JEDDAH, 23 November 2006 — The judge in a controversial in-absentia ruling that divorced a woman from her husband at the request of her half brothers has not appeared on his bench for nearly a month, according to an anonymous source at the judge’s office.

“I don’t know the details for certain, but he may have resigned or moved to another court,” an employee of the judge’s office in Jouf where the judge worked told Arab News yesterday.

Judge Ibrahim Al-Farrj was thrust into the national spotlight following his July 20, 2005 ruling that divorced Fatima from her husband Mansour Al-Timani against the will of the couple. Fatima’s half-brothers filed the divorce papers on the basis that Mansour concealed his tribal affiliation when asking for Fatima’s hand in marriage.

Arab News attempted to get details of the judge’s continuing absence from his bench by calling the interim president of Al-Jouf General Courthouse, Judge Mohammad Al-Aabed, but he refused to comment.

According to Arab News contacts who do not want to be identified, Al-Farrj was questioned last month by a committee from the Ministry of Justice in Riyadh. Arab News contacted the ministry in an attempt to discover why Al-Farrj was questioned and if it had anything to do with his decision to divorce the couple against their will, but the committee secretary (who didn’t want to be named, either) said he couldn’t recall details of the inquest due to the volume of files he deals with.

The secretary said that the process of discharging judges for insubordination or bad rulings is up to the ministry’s Higher Judicial Council. Nobody at the ministry would confirm whether the judge was being investigated for his ruling, or if he resigned or was discharged.

The department in charge did not return phone calls inquiring about the case.

Fatima’s lawyer, Abdul Rahman Al-Lahem, officially submitted appeal papers to the Cassation Court. There is no news yet as to what action the appeals court has taken in the case, if any. Meanwhile, Fatima languishes in prison in Dammam because she refuses to go back into the custody of her family and will not leave until she is allowed to return to her husband.

“If the Cassation Court overrules the judge, the case will return to the general court,” Al-Lahem said, adding that Judge Al-Farrj (if he returns to the bench) can then choose to uphold his original ruling and the Cassation Court would assign another judge to issue his own decision.

Fatima and Mansour were arrested earlier this year in Jeddah by secret police on the basis of being together as an unmarried couple, even though they were divorced against their will over a year ago. They had traveled to Jeddah together in hope that an official there could intervene on their case.

Religious scholars have argued that the tribal differences that the half brothers have used as a basis for marriage incompatibility is not sanctioned by Islam.

Fatima’s lawyer says that any incompatibility issues that arise after a marriage takes place is a matter between the husband and wife and not members of the extended family.